For the past three years, people in the north-east of England have faced yet another attempt by open-cast coal developers to exploit and rape the beautiful Derwent valley. Despite the opposition of the local authority and in defiance of the views of thousands of local people and a multitude of public and private bodies, the developers have gone to appeal. In that process, they have continually failed to disclose the appropriate information to all concerned, and persisted with a plan that has given the residents of the area grave cause for concern.

This petition, signed by more than 4,500 people, is a public declaration of their opposition to those plans, and I urge the Secretary of State to use all her powers to protect one of the last remaining green spaces in the Tyneside conurbation.

To lie upon the Table.